My Coronation Street 2012 - by Flaming Nora

The action on-screen in Coronation Street this year hasn’t been too hot (Who am I kidding? It’s been dire!)

However, while this year I reckon Corrie’s been spoiled by too much, including St Ella and surrogacy, my personal Corrie 2012 hasn’t been bad at all.  In fact, it’s been better than anything on-screen and I thought I’d share some of it here on the Coronation Street Blog.   Feel free to share your own Corrie year too by leaving some comments below.

January 2012

A weekend in Manchester to clear away post-Christmas blues with my first visit to the Lass o’Gowrie pub, to see Coronation Street 1968 Live!

This wasn’t just one of the best Corrie experiences I’ve had the pleasure of being part of, it also ranks up there as one of the best theatre experiences ever. 

After lunch with friends who are also Corrie fans, we watched a cast assembled by legendary Coronation Street casting director June West, and this included some ex-Corrie actors. One of them - Dave Dutton - has even been in Corrie in 11 different roles!.  All of the cast worked their magic close-up and personal with the audience, acting out two classic Corrie episodes written by Jack Rosenthal from 1968. Jack’s widow Maureen Lipman was at the event which supported the charity Myeloma UK.

It was an amazing evening and a wonderful event – read all about it here - and the best part is it’s happening again next year.  Follow @thelassogowrie on twitter


April 2012

Fat Brenda: The Stage Show took the Harrogate Theatre by storm. It starred ex-Corrie actor Steve Huison (Eddie Windass) as Fat Brenda, the Siren of Streetcars and it was Corrie comedy gold. Fat Brenda's life story was ghostwritten by playwright Joe Parkinson and if Corrie has any sense, they’ll sign Joe up sooner rather than later to join the scriptwriting team.  

After we’d already bought tickets to one of the two nights of Fat Brenda’s Harrogate show, we were given complementary tickets for the other night and so went back to see it all over again. It was even better second time around.  After two sell-out shows in Harrogate, Fat Brenda took her one-man stage show to Manchester where Corrie actors and ITV bosses were wooed. It was beltin! 
Follow @fatbrenda on twitter.  Follow @stevehuison on twitter.

June 2012

To Yorkshire for a week-long holiday where we met up with fellow bloggers Rebecca and Fat Brenda (plus Mrs Fat Brenda, Master Fat Brenda and Baby Fat Brenda).  We caught up on all things Corrie over lunch with a really good gossip.

November 2012

Our blogger Tvor flew in from Canada and made the journey north from Manchester with her Salford sweetheart to stay overnight with us.  I met Tvor online at least 10 years ago and have met her many times since. Quite simply, without Tvor and her support this blog would not exist. We showed her the hot-spots of Sunderland (yes, we do have some) and introduced her to the delights of a breakfast bacon stotty.  Read Tvor's Coronation Street Blog.

2013...
And so, to 2013 when we already have two visits to Manchester lined up for January.  One of those visits is a return to the Lass o’Gowrie pub. This time it’s to watch Corrie episodes from the 70s being acted in the pub and to attend the Corrie-fest and meet other Corrie fans.  Details of all that can be found here.


And the second visit to Manchester in January... well, I can’t tell you about that just yet. But let me tease you with this… there's going to be some amazing blog posts afterwards from our team here at Coronation Street Blog towers!


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